Xbox 360 Call of Duty Elite paid subscribers to get access to Overwatch New York City skyscraper level later this month.
The next content drop for Call of Duty Elite subscribers is just two weeks away. Activision today announced that the Overwatch map will launch February 21 for paid Elite members on the Xbox 360. The map's PlayStation 3 and PC debuts have not yet been revealed (although if January's Elite DLC is any indication, PS3 owners will have to wait at least a month to get their hands on it).
The sole piece of new content for Modern Warfare 3 this month, Overwatch is a nearly symmetrical map set on top of a New York City skyscraper in the midst of construction. Gamers will need to watch their steps, as construction crews apparently haven't gotten around to installing safety measures like guardrails just yet.
Activision has detailed a monthly schedule of content drops for Elite premium members that lasts through September. Every month will see at least one new map made available, while new missions will debut in March, May, June, August, and September. The wait for new modes will be a little longer, with the first not appearing until June and the second dropping in August.
The Call of Duty Elite subscription service reached the 1 million paid users milestone within the first month of its November launch. Elite provides players with gameplay statistics, video sharing, and clan support features for free.
Those who shell out for the $50 annual subscription will also receive all downloadable content released in the year, as well as exclusive video content and other perks. All content will arrive first for Call of Duty: Elite paid subscribers, but eventually non-Elite members will be able to purchase content separately via what Activision calls "Modern Warfare 3 Content Collections."
CD Projekt Red managing director says the studio's plan is to give players reasons to buy their games new and keep them instead of trading them in.
The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red has been vocal about its distaste for digital rights management (DRM). Now the studio is taking another populist gamer stance, saying that rumored plans for the Next Xbox to block the playing of used games "can be a bad thing."
Speaking with Eurogamer, CD Projekt Red managing director Adam Badowski said the studio loses money not due to piracy or used game sales but simply because people decide not to buy its games.
"We should invest more power to upgrade and polish our products and convince players to keep our products, to be with us, to understand our needs," Badowski said. "Because we are an independent developer, we have to prevent layoffs; we need to grow up and have the power to create new games."
As with the DRM issue, CD Projekt Red's attitude toward used game sales may not be widely shared. The design director of Saints Row studio Volition came under fire from numerous gamers earlier this month for saying that a Next Xbox locking out used games would be "fantastic" and cautioning that the industry could "fall apart" if used sales aren't somehow curbed.
A "save the date" invitation sent to GameSpot indicates EA will take the wraps off a Medal of Honor sequel on March 6 in San Francisco. That puts the reveal during the 2012 Game Developers Conference, which runs March 5-9 in San Francisco.
Medal of Honor--a reboot of the long-running shooter series--was released in 2010 to a warm critical reception and went on to ship 5 million copies. Last month, a tweet from United Kingdom retailer GAME suggested EA would release the Medal of Honor sequel in 2012.
Sequel to 2011's children's toy/game hybrid arriving this year with bigger figures, more areas; all original characters compatible with new game.
Activision scored a holiday hit with Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, and the publisher isn't wasting time in preparing a follow-up. The publisher today announced a sequel, Skylanders Giants, for release this fall.
Skylanders Giants brings 20 new characters to the game, including figures twice the size--both in-game and in action figure form--of those in the original. Additionally, Activision said some of these figures sport a "light technology" that illuminates the figure when it is close to the game's "Portal of Power."
Additionally, Skylanders Giants features all-new arenas and fresh gameplay options in the title's battle mode. Further, Activision said Skylanders Giants features "enhanced" elemental zones and new hero challenges.
All characters from Skylanders: Spryo's Adventures will be compatible with Skylanders Giants. The game is in development at Toys for Bob, the Novato, California-based developer behind the original game.
Activision did not announce what platforms Skylanders Giants will arrive on or what the game will cost. For reference, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures was released for the Wii, Xbox 360, 3DS, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac carrying a $70 price tag. Additional characters are available for that game via separate purchase.
The original Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures boasted connectivity with real-world toys based on the Spyro universe. In Spyro's Adventures, players could place the game's numerous figures--who have distinct special abilities--on a "portal" and have characters appear in game.
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventures has been nominated for three awards at the 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards at D.I.C.E. 2012, including nods for Outstanding Innovation, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering. The award show will be broadcast live on GameSpot this Thursday, February 9.
Markus "Notch" Persson says he is "serious" about helping Double Fine boss Tim Schafer get sequel to 2005 adventure game off the ground.
The 2005 cult hit Psychonauts could finally see a sequel with help from an unexpected source, as Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson today offered his help in getting the game off the ground.
Writing a reply to Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer on Twitter, Persson said, "Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen," with a follow-up tweet saying, "Also, I'm serious."
The tweets were in response to a new interview Schafer gave to Digital Spy. In the interview, Schafer said he had pitched Psychonauts 2 "several" times, but without any luck.
"I would love to do Psychonauts 2. I've actually pitched that to publishers several times and no one has taken the bait so far," he said.
As for how Psychonauts 2 could see the light of day, Schafer said it's an issue of money.
"I'd love to do that game, but I'd have to convince someone to just give me a few million dollars. That's all," he said.
The original Psychonauts was released in 2005 on the original Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PC. An adventure title, the game casts players as Raz, a young man with extraordinary powers. For more on the title, check out GameSpot's review.
Sony's new adventure title for Vita shifted downward for the week, alongside Darkness II and Kingdoms of Amalur.
The second week of February is filled with plentiful adventures, be it in a French comic-styled village backdrop or a medieval setting. First up is Gravity Daze for the PlayStation Vita. The adventure game stars a teenage blond girl named Kat, who is in search of her identity in the town of Hexaville. She has the ability to control gravity within her area, thanks to a magical cat she finds at the beginning of the game. The game is under the direction of Silent Hill and Siren's Keiichiro Toyama. Gravity Daze will be out this Friday in its native Japanese language.
Next is EA, Big Huge Games, and Studio 38's foray into the role-playing game realm, with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game's story is written by R.A. Salvatore, and features about 40-plus hours of gameplay in a brand new fantasy universe. The RPG also features a dynamic combat system that combines magic and melee attacks seamlessly, as well as the ability to modify a player's current class using the Destiny system. Kingdoms of Amalur is out on Tuesday this week.
2K Games Asia will be distributing Darkness II all over Asia on February 10. The game puts players in the role of mob leader Jackie Estacato as he takes up arms against his enemies using his Darkness powers. The first-person shooter features the concept of quad-wielding, a six- to eight-hour single-player campaign, and an online-only cooperative mode called Vendetta mode (playable offline only on single-player).
In addition to the regular version of the title, gamers can get a steel-book limited-edition version featuring in-game items, like alternate darkling outfits, custom artwork by Darkness artist Marc Silvestri, and a free digital download of The Darkness Origins comic in two volumes.
Last but not least is the 3DS-exclusive Resident Evil: Revelations. The game's story takes place after Resident Evil 4 and before the events of part five in the wake of a bioterrorist attack on the island city of Terragrigia. The title was recently praised for its atmosphere and action but was panned for its uninteresting new characters. Check out GameSpot's review for more information.
Feb. 7
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Shank 2 (Xbox 360, PS3)
Jak and Daxter Collection (PS3)
Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
Design director at Saints Row studio warns industry could "fall apart" due to used sales, says an Xbox that blocked used games would be "fantastic."
The used game business is a contentious issue. For companies like GameStop, sales of used games are big business, but those who actually develop games don't see a dime when people purchase their titles secondhand. One developer recently vocalized his take on the used game market, and it paints a less than lovely image of the business.
In a recent entry on game developer blog AltDevBlog titled "I Feel Used," Volition design director Jameson Durall lambasted the used game market and noted that change is needed or the industry will crumble.
"In the end, I fully believe that we have to do something about these issues or our industry is going to fall apart," he said. "People often don't understand the cost that goes into creating these huge experiences that we put on the shelves for only $60. They also don't seem to realize how much they are hurting us when they buy a used game and how pirating a copy is just plain stealing."
Durall, who is currently working on a secret project at Volition, laid out a plan for combating used game sales. He said supporting games with downloadable content will encourage users to hold on to their games longer. However, Durall warned that this tactic only will work if the DLC in question is "compelling and a good enough value" for consumers.
Durall also pledged his support to the online pass schemes being used by publishers like Electronic Arts, THQ, Sony, and others, whereby parts of a game are available only to those with a new copy of a game.
"Some consumers complain about this method because the precedent has always been that it's included in the price and should come with it," he said. "It did for the person who actually bought it first–so was saving that $5 at GameStop worth it for you?"
Looking ahead, Durall said he also embraced Sony's plan to offer digital copies of PlayStation Vita titles--which cannot become used units--at a discounted rate. He said he expects gamers to be enticed to buy digital copies because of their lower price rate and this will in turn lead to fewer used copies in the wild.
Durall also talked about the rumor that the Next Xbox would prevent gamers from playing used titles. Durall said this kind of mechanism would be "a fantastic change for our business," while admitting gamers would not be excited about it at first.
That said, Durall said he believes gamers will "grow to understand why and that it won't kill him."
As for how Microsoft might go about preventing gamers from playing used titles, Durall said the company already has a system in place. He suggests that Microsoft would need to only use a code to tie a copy of a title to an Xbox Live account and make the game playable only on that account.
Durall admits that a system like this would hurt the game rental business and that there are several "faults that would have to be ironed out," but nevertheless, he contends that it is certainly possible.
Trendy Entertainment's $15 tower-defense action RPG reaches platinum status across XBLA, PSN, and PC since release in October.
A month after Super Meat Boy reached 1 million in sales, tower-defense action role-playing game Dungeon Defenders has also hit that mark. According to its publisher, sales of the game across Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, and PC now number at over 1 million.
The news stems from Joystiq, which confirmed the new sales milestone with Doug Kennedy, CEO of the game's publisher, Reverb Publishing.
Dungeon Defenders launched on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, and Steam in October for $15, and it has subsequently welcomed multiple add-on packs. The game is also planned for the PlayStation Vita.
Developed by Trendy Entertainment, the downloadable Dungeon Defenders is a mix of tower-defense and action role-playing games. The title features drop-in/drop-out cooperative play for up to four players, with four distinct character classes like the squire and huntress.
Free-to-play installment in long-running flight simulator cleared for launch at month's end; $20 Hawaiian Adventure Pack due on launch date.
Microsoft Flight has its landing gear deployed and is eyeing the runway. Today, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Flight will arrive for the PC on February 29.
A free-to-play flight simulator, the game is the first in the series since Microsoft Flight Simulator: X, which was released in 2006. Microsoft Flight puts players on the Big Island of Hawaii and features "hours" of free missions and other activities to partake in.
Gamers looking to fly further in Microsoft Flight will also be able to purchase additional content in the form of new planes, regions, and "customization options." Microsoft also noted that it plans to release additional content "frequently" via daily challenges and updates.
The first expansion pack for Microsoft Flight will be the $20 Hawaiian Adventure Pack, which includes new challenges, 20 new missions, and the RV-6A aircraft. Also available at launch will be two new aircraft, the Maule M-7-260C ($15) and the North American P-51 Mustang ($8).
Take-Two and 38 Studios head to market alongside Capcom's 3DS Resident Evil: Revelations and online shooter Gotham City Impostors.
For being the second week of February, the game industry has a surprising number of desirable releases on tap. These range from a sequel to 2007's acclaimed The Darkness, to the maiden effort from Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, to a 3DS Resident Evil and a downloadable Batman game from the creators of F.E.A.R.
First, to The Darkness. Digital Extremes takes over from Starbreeze Studios, and The Darkness II picks up several years after the events of the original. Players once again take the role of Jackie Estacado, now the don of the Franchetti clan. While he has controlled the chaotic powers inside him since the events of the first game, a reasonless attempt on his life kick-starts a full-on mob war in New York, a perfect situation for the Darkness to reemerge.
Co-published by EA and 38 Studios, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning began life under the auspices of THQ at Big Huge Studios. The fantasy-themed role-playing game will feature a number of genre staples, from skeleton warriors and cave trolls to swords and sorcery. Players will be able to dictate the progression of their protagonists, choosing and developing a variety of skills that will determine an optimum play style as well as character classes.
Already deemed a critical success, Resident Evil: Revelations follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in an episodic story-driven adventure set between the events of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. The agents are once again on a mission to discover the truth behind a zombie outbreak, with this one stemming from the T-Abyss virus.
Building on the success of Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham City, Monolith Productions' Gotham City Impostors is a farcical team-based first-person shooter. The multiplayer-only downloadable title lets players create heroes and antiheroes based on DC Comics' roster and then duke it out with custom-built and/or off-kilter weaponry.
For further details, visit GameSpot's New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.
Tuesday, February 7
The Darkness II--X360, PS3, PC--EA
Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition--X360, PS3, PC--Bethesda Softworks
Forza Motorsport 4: February American Le Mans Series Pack--X360--Microsoft
Gotham City Impostors--X360, PS3, PC--WBIE
The House of the Dead III--PS3--Sega
Jak and Daxter Collection--PS3--Sony
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning--X360, PS3, PC--EA
Resident Evil: Revelations--3DS--Capcom
Shank 2--X360, PS3, PC--EA
Wednesday, February 8
Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness--DS--Maximum Family Games
Smash 'N' Survive--PSN--Version2Games Limited
After six weeks at the top, FIFA 12 gets knocked down to four, and Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the first new release to go to number one in 2012.
It has been all change in the UK games chart this week, with three new releases going straight into the top five. Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII-2 leapt straight to the top of the all-formats chart, ending FIFA 12's six-week reign at number one. The game already has dated DLC, with the Lightning and Master Sergeant Amodar coliseum battle due to be released this week, with more episodic content coming soon. For those who don't know their Moogles from their Chocobos, be sure to check out GameSpot's guide to the long-running series.
Also new to the top five is Konami's Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which entered the chart at number two this week. Featuring remastered versions of PlayStation 2 titles Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the HD collection also includes Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker from the PSP.
SoulCalibur V is also new to the chart this week, entering at number five. Despite positive review scores and an appearance from assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, it failed to meet SoulCalibur IV's number one debut back in August 2008, which knocked Wii Fit off the top spot.
And although FIFA 12 has fallen from the top spot, it appears that football fever hasn't completely died out, with Football Manager 2012 holding the top spot of the PC chart for the 12th week in a row.
UK All-Formats Chart for Week Ending 4 February 2012:
1. Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Square Enix Europe
2. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection - Konami
3. Battlefield 3 - Electronic Arts
4. FIFA 12 - Electronic Arts
5. SoulCalibur V - Namco Bandai Games
6. Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Ubisoft
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Activision Blizzard
8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Bethesda Softworks
9. Just Dance 3 - Ubisoft
10.Saints Row: The Third - THQ
Writing on the official BioWare forums, community manager Chris Priestly apologized for the string of errors fans found in Mass Effect: Deception and said changes are being made for future editions of the novel.
"The teams at Del Rey and BioWare would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the Mass Effect fans for any errors and oversights made in the recent novel Mass Effect: Deception," wrote Priestly. "We are currently working on a number of changes that will appear in future editions of the novel."
Last week, Mass Effect fans published an extensive Google Docs catalog of errors found in Mass Effect: Deception, a novel set in the Mass Effect universe. These mistakes included timeline missteps like Nick and Gillian aging six years since the events of Ascension, which is set only three years before Deception.
Mass Effect: Deception was released on January 31. It was penned by William C. Dietz and published by Del Rey. Dietz is the author of several game novels, including those set in the Halo, Resistance, and Hitman franchises. Dietz also served as a writer on Resistance: Burning Skies for the PlayStation Vita.
Bethesda vice president of PR and marketing Pete Hines today announced via his Twitter account that PC Creation Kit mod tools for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be released Tuesday. He also teased that the publisher would have a "special surprise" to go with it, though he gave no indication what it could be.
Designed to support the modding community, the Creation Kit gives gamers access to Bethesda's own development tools to make new Skyrim content. Likewise, Valve's Steam Workshop tool for Skyrim will aid PC gamers in finding and installing community-created game mods.
While the PC Creation Kit will no doubt spur the mod community for Skyrim, the game's do-it-yourself fan base isn't waiting for Bethesda's help in tinkering with the game. Check out the video below for a look at some of the game's earliest fan-made modifications and where to get them.
Thirty-year industry veteran noted for Deus Ex and Epic Mickey to be honored at next month's awards show in San Francisco.
Next month at the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards, Deus Ex and Epic Mickey designer Warren Spector will leave with a piece of hardware only 11 others have ever received. GDCA event organizers today announced that Spector will be the recipient of the group's Lifetime Achievement award.
The award, which was given to Lionhead Studios leader Peter Molyneux last year, "recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole," according to event organizers.
Previous winners include Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Metal Gear Solid designer Hideo Kojima, and Civilization studio head Sid Meier.
Presently the founder of Austin, Texas-based Junction Point Studios, Spector has been in the game business for 30 years. Arguably his most famous work was 2000's original Deus Ex, which he served as producer on at Ion Studios.
Spector left Ion Studios in 2004 and formed Junction Point Studios. Disney Interactive Studios acquired the company in 2007, and the shop put out Epic Mickey in 2010 to mixed reviews.
Spector will accept his award in person at the 12th annual GDCA ceremony on Wednesday, March 7, as part of the 2012 Game Developers Conference. GameSpot will stream video of the event live.
Marketing calendar indicates EA Partners' fiscal 2013 filled with Respawn's first game, Overstrike, Outnernauts, and a new Populous title.
EA Partners will release Respawn Entertainment's first game, as well as two other previously unannounced titles, by March 2013, according to a purportedly leaked internal marketing calendar.
French gaming site Hardgamers reported it discovered an EA Partners marketing calendar for the April 2012-March 2013 period that included mention of Respawn, The Secret World, Overstrike, Outernauts, and Populous. The release calendar indicated all titles were to be released by March 2013.
As for the titles on the sheet, The Secret World's inclusion falls in line with the game's already announced April release date. That title is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game presently in development at Funcom and set for release on the PC.
The rest of the games on the list, on the other hand, previously either did not have a release window attached to them or were not known to exist at all.
Also included on the marketing calendar, according to the website, was Overstrike, Insomniac Games' squad-based stylized multiplatform shooter, which was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo without a release window.
Additionally, the website is reporting that the calendar included mention of a game called Outernauts, a title that EA has not formally announced and one that has ties to Insomniac. On January 28, the Santa Monica, California-based game developer filed a trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office covering use of the term "Outernauts" in video games.
As for the mention of Populous on the release calendar, the real-time strategy series has laid dormant since 2007's Populous DS. No additional information concerning the title was made available.
As of press time, EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment on the matter.
Today, Sega Sammy issued its April-December 2011 earnings, reporting revenues of ¥312 billion ($4.07 billion), down .5 percent from the same period in 2010. Profit also gave up some of its massive gains from the year-ago period, falling 6 percent to ¥34.384 billion ($449 million).
Sega Sammy's slot-machine business in Japan continues to be the company's moneymaker, as the segment posts an operating profit of ¥67.495 billion ($881 million) on revenues of ¥177.716 billion ($2.32 billion). The consumer business, of which console, handheld, mobile, and social games are party, is Sega Sammy's second-largest segment and did not fare so well.
Net sales for its home-gaming segment fell 4.9 percent year-over-year to ¥64.101 billion ($837 million). The segment also reversed last year's modest operating profit, posting a ¥5.51 billion ($71.9 million) operating loss during the period.
Though Sega Sammy proffered no console unit-sales figures, the company said top releases during the period were Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Sonic Generations. The company also said that it found significant success with its mobile title Kingdom Quest, which sold 2 million units.
Publisher's antipiracy scheme will prevent customers from playing some of its Mac and PC games for an undetermined period of time during server transition starting February 7.
Starting next week, a number of Ubisoft's legitimate PC customers will be unable to play their games because of problems with the titles' digital rights management (DRM) antipiracy schemes.
The publisher has announced that it is "transitioning the hosting of many of its online services from a third-party data center to a new facility" starting on February 7, and as a result, most of its games will lose online functionality. However, because some of Ubisoft's PC and Mac games feature DRM that require a constant online connection to the publisher's servers, those games will be completely unplayable when the publisher takes those servers down for the transition. Ubisoft's uPlay service will also be down during the transition.
Ubisoft apologized for the downtime, saying, "This move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers."
Not all of the publisher's games will be impacted. It is keeping servers running for newer releases like Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Driver: San Francisco, and Just Dance 3. Full lists of the games that won't be impacted and the ones that will be rendered completely unplayable follow below.
Games that will be unplayable during transition
Assassin's Creed--Mac
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2--PC
Might & Magic: Heroes VI--PC
Splinter Cell Conviction--Mac
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom--PC
The Settlers--Mac
Games that will have online functionality throughout transition
Anno 2070
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Driver: San Francisco
Just Dance 3
The Settlers Online
Action, RPG games help publisher post 175 percent year-over-year rise to $65.78 million for last nine months of 2011; net sales down slightly to $1.2 billion.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Japanese debut of Final Fantasy XIII-2 were big hits for Square Enix in 2011 and helped the publisher post a strong profit during its latest period.
For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2011, the publisher posted net income of –5.01billion ($65.78 million), up 175 percent from last year's haul of –1.82 billion ($23.8 million).
Square Enix attributed the sharp increase in net income to sales of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Final Fantasy XIII-2, which were released in Japan during the period. Revenues from Square Enix's Web, smartphone, and social networking services were also called out as contributors to the bottom line.
Total net sales during the period came in at –95.74 billion ($1.26 billion), down 2.5 percent from the –98.18 ($1.28 billion) recorded a year prior. A significant chunk of that total stemmed from the company's Digital Entertainment business unit, which posted –53.7 billion ($704 million) for the period, a rise of 6.2 percent from the year prior.
Square Enix said its full-year forecasts of –65.61 billion ($861 million) in net income on –130 billion ($1.7 billion) in net sales remain unchanged for the year ending March 31, 2012.
Developer says it has "so much to draw from" for potential future games set in universe, but no decision has been made yet; Mass Effect 3 due next month.
On March 6, Mass Effect 3 will ship for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, marking the end of Commander Shepard's trilogy in the space-bound role-playing series. However, the franchise may live on.
Speaking to OXM, Mass Effect 3 executive producer Michael Gamble teased the future of the Mass Effect series, saying BioWare has "so much to draw from" if it decides to make a new game based in that universe.
"Without going down any specific path, you can think of many, many different areas throughout the [intellectual property], throughout the history, where there are large wars to be won, large battles to be had, and a lot of development to be done around where these races came from, how they came about," he said.
Gamble said no decisions have been made but reiterated that "the future is wide open" for what the studio could work on from the franchise moving forward.
As for Mass Effect 3, that game is due out on March 6 and has players once again taking on the role of Shepard, who is now on the run from the shadowy pro-human organization Cerberus. To save Earth, Shepard must travel the galaxy trying to rally support from alien civilizations with varying degrees of sympathy.
Action role-playing game based on George R.R. Martin's fantasy series pushed from early 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC .
Gamers eager to get their hands on Game of Thrones for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC are going to have to wait longer than expected. Publisher Atlus has announced that the role-playing game adaptation of George R.R. Martin's fantasy franchise has been delayed to May 15.
Game of Thrones features numerous familiar locations from the books, as well as likenesses of some of the actors from the popular HBO television series. When the game was announced last November, it was expected to arrive in "early 2012."
On the gameplay front, the title will feature an "active slowdown tactical combat engine" that slows time and lets players make strategic battle decisions. Character interactions and player decisions are also said to have a big impact on the game's world.
You'll know this is the third and final act in a galaxy-wide fight for survival. The implacable Reapers are preparing to purge the Milky Way of organic life, for real this time, setting the stage for an epic, space-operatic endgame.
You'll have noticed how pretty it all is, from the scuffing on Shepard's N7 battle gear, to the sleek squidbots descending on Vancouver harbour. In our recent hands-on with the upcoming demo, we watched red storm clouds roll in over the Mars horizon, flickering with otherworldly lightning, and they looked spiffy too.
But beyond the all-new co-op, celebrity cameos, and ever shinier visuals, Mass Effect 3 is about to hand Mass Effect 2, masterful though it was, a beating on a galactic scale. Here's why.
[Warning: may contain traces of spoiler. If story hints bring you out in a rash, click away.]
Mass Effect's weapon and character customisation is richer and more meaningful than that of its forerunner, which cut a bit too deep when trimming the customisation fat. Options are still on the streamlined side, but this time your Shepard (and his or her crew and gear) will be a creation all of your own.
Biotic, tech, and combat powers are at the heart of customisation again. You can level up each of a character's powers through six ranks, with a branching choice after rank three, offering a couple of tempting specialisation options. Compare that to the four ranks per power in Mass Effect 2, with the option to finally evolve it into one of two more-powerful versions right at the end, in rank four. Evolving a power much earlier makes the choice more significant, not least because you'll spend much more time using it before (probably) nipping through a Mass Relay for a heroic final rumble with the Reapers.
Weapons also hit a sweet spot of streamlined customisation. Take scavenged upgrades to a weapons bench, and you can add a couple of mods to each gun, boosting damage, range, and the like. And your choices are reflected in the weapon models as well as the all-important stats so, hey, your gun will look different to how your gun looked before.
2. Shepard's got moves
Shepard is scrappier and more agile this time around. In addition to that flashy omni-blade melee kill, Shepard can sneak in, grab an enemy from behind cover, and give it a surprise helping of holographic stabbing. Other abilities include tossing grenades, sliding into cover, and vaulting up onto obstacles without pause.
Getting in, out, and around cover is smoother in general, and there's more up-and-down action, too; the levels we saw were generously populated with ladders to showcase Shep's all-new ladder-climbing power and designated points for hopping down onto lower levels.
And those early concerns that some shooter extremists at BioWare were turning Mass Effect 3 into a balls-out gun game and nothing else have resolved into something much more agreeable: shooting stuff is just plain more fun in 3 than it was in 2, whether you're sniping a riot-shielded enemy right in the eye slot or peppering a Reaper minion with space bullets from up close.
So what has Liara been up to? Is Miranda still genetically perfect? Did Garrus ever fix that gaping hole in his armour? This we need to know. Tighter gunplay and fuller character customisation are grand, but it could all go hang if this last game in the trilogy weren't a big old Mass Effect reunion party. Luckily, it's a little bit of just that: all the squad members from the first two games make a return in Mass Effect 3. If you didn't get them killed, obviously.
They won't all be coming back as playable squad members; we're told there are fewer characters to team up with than in the expansive Normandy roster of the second game, with its crowded character select screen. But everyone's back in some form, with "a lot more of an organic feeling to the relationships," says associate producer Mike Gamble.
The first mission, in which Shepard swings by Mars on the way to the Citadel to investigate a Prothean technology archive, reunites her with two Mass Effect old-timers: Liara and either Kaidan or Ashley, according to which one you sacrificed all the way back in the first game. With Liara conjuring biotic singularities over clusters of bad guys, Kaidan snap-freezing them with cryo blast, and you gunning down the lot, it feels just like old times. Aw.
4. Cerberus are baddies, for real this time
We spent Mass Effect 2 uneasily cooperating with Cerberus because they had the resources and the intel we needed, but they were always shifty pro-human militants named after a triple-headed hellbeast; it's well past time those guys showed their true colours. Look for that in Mass Effect 3.
As the game begins, Shepard has severed ties with the Illusive Man and his posse, though Kaidan (or Ashley, presumably) is still giving you trouble for having done their dirty work. And up on the red planet, Cerberus soldiers are getting their hands bloody, executing the staff of the Mars base housing the Prothean archive.
They may have spared no expense bringing Shepard back from the dead in game two, rebuilding him or her around a charred scrap of corpse, but like holographic Martin Sheen says: he needed you once and now "your time is over." We predict plenty of Cerberus thugs mixing it up in the enemy ranks, alongside all the multiracial Husk variants. As a pitiless, genocidal machine-race, the Reapers are officially the Big Bad, but we're looking forward to being back on the right (wrong) side of Cerberus.
Though we had a tantalising peek at Earth from the moon, Mass Effect never let us set foot on the blue planet. Through all of Shepard's planet-hopping, there has been no trip back to the cradle of humanity--until now.
Mass Effect 3 kicks off in future Vancouver, home of humanity's Defence Council, and with respect to that city, we can't imagine that's the only Earth location in the cards. Though the early trailer depicting a Reaper attack on London may have been just for flavour, not a promise we'd be omni-stabbing Husks in Hyde Park, we'd bet on Earth turning up more than just once.
"Earth in general has some significance," says associate producer Mike Gamble, and that's all the encouragement we need to be daydreaming of epic ground battles across semi-familiar territory. Because there's no place like home(world).
We pick up our scythe and get harvesting with a look at the role-playing elements in Darksiders II.
It would have been easy to dismiss the original Darksiders as the equivalent of a gaming pickpocket, liberally pilfering ideas from third-person action adventure titles such as God of War and The Legend of Zelda. But for a game that borrowed so heavily, Darksiders carved out its own clear and fascinating identity. At the centre of the experience was War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been summoned to Earth believing the last of seven seals keeping the forces of heaven and hell at bay had been broken, in the process signalling the endwar.
Darksiders II takes what the development team at Vigil confesses was originally a game of experimentation and refines the formula by stripping back the ideas that failed to meet the grade and expanding further on its strongest traits. We recently got an updated hands-off look at the sequel and found that while much of the basic structure that made it such a solid first outing has remained intact, this isn't the safe, cookie-cutter follow-up many may have expected.
The game takes place during the same time period as Darksiders and runs concurrently to explore what older brother Death was doing while War sliced and diced his way through the armies of angels and demons. With the stage for battle set, the development team is using the sequel to branch out with more exotic locations than in the previous game, and to move away from the human planet setting to investigate events occurring above and below the surface.
Though of the same stock, Death and War are very different in their approach to movement and combat. War's hard-hitting, lumbering way made taking care of business deliberate and brutal. Death is no less violent than his brother, but forgoes blocking and slower, more powerful strikes for zippier hit-and-run pokes and scrapes with scythes and fist weapons. That's not to say that slower, higher-damage-dealing weapons like hammers aren't available in his arsenal, but they act as secondary tools of the trade. New ethereal powers let you trade energy earned in combat to summon tombstones filled with zombies that act as crowd control in multitarget fights. Alternatively, you can take a page out of the skunk playbook, dousing yourself in shadow and dealing hurt to anyone who invades your personal space.
Straight brawling has been tossed aside to usher in combat that rests on two new skill trees. Spending points on Harbinger abilities increases Death's agility, speed, and proficiency with melee strikes, while earning and unlocking those on the Necromancer side boosts his magical prowess. The addition of these trees gives the game a more role-playing feel, while another change is that enemies receive designated levels of difficulty, complete with visibly depleting health bars as you whittle them down with your attacks. Damage figures scroll across the screen as you land hits, and though Vigil is playing its cards close to its chest for the moment, we saw sporadically increased amounts of damage that suggests the new gear items that drop from bad guys may help raise your chance to perform critical strikes.
Before you go throwing your hands up to condemn this new attempt at a more cerebral experience, it's worth noting that platforming, puzzle-solving, and skull-splitting with big metal weapons, which made the original so great, are back in spades. In fact, in response to user feedback, Darksiders II will be more difficult than its predecessor and will have less-generous windows of timing when you're performing specific objectives. Quickly rising lava in one room showed an example where precise pillar jumps and Death's wall-running and Ghost Hand skills were needed to avoid being burnt to a crisp. The new construct robot unit lets you smash corruption crystals blocking access to new areas, like the gauntlet did previously. Firing chain-tethered arms from the machine as makeshift walkways helps you retrieve items, while its raised control position from on top of its humanoid body keeps you safe as you coast across dangerous environmental hazards.
If you're going to be traipsing across the newer, more-open world, you're going to want rewards for your troubles. Darksiders II hopes to provide both tailored gameplay and incentives to replay the campaign by offering multiple sets of armour to collect and wear. We were told about the slayer, necromancer, and wanderer ensembles, but so far we don't know where they all come from, or what we'll need to do to obtain them. Loot dropped frequently during our demo, and while we were impressed with having the simplicity of quickly equipping it on the spot, or tossing it in a bag for later with a single button press, new items seemed difficult to spot on the ground. Optional side quests and dungeons will now also be available, some of which may take several hours to complete outside of the main campaign. It's worth pointing out that though this is a single-player game, Vigil has hinted at the possibility of letting players trade bind-on-equip items online with friends rather than vendor-trash them.
Our demo ended with looks at two of the nastier foes you will encounter in your travels. The first, Ghorn, was a miniboss who exploded and rebuilt himself at will. Carrying a huge cleaver, he spurted waves of lava through open grates on the floor of the arena. The second enemy was a mixture of organic and robotic, with giant black tendrils pulling together parts to build a kit-form monster who loved to pound the ground. Doing so sent out a huge shock wave, but in both cases, Death's nimble movements allowed us to deftly jump to safety before returning fire.
Certainly not as pointy-headed as some of the other action role-playing games already available, or soon to be released, Darksiders II appears to be cutting its own path. The addition of a more open-world map, optional side content, and a more fluid and thoughtful combat system has us interested to see more of the game running. Look for more on it during 2012 ahead of its launch on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC.
By incorporating sandbox level designs, varied weapons, and other tricks, Rebellion looks to deliver a different action experience with Sniper Elite V2
The number of military action games based on the events of World War II has tapered away during the past several years, with the setting focusing on either current or futuristic storylines. Bucking this trend, Rebellion Games is going back to the tail end of WWII with its upcoming third-person action game. Sniper Elite V2 is the follow-up to the 2005 game Sniper Elite. The developers are hoping that the game's open-ended nature and "kill cam" camera mechanic will set it apart from other games.
Sniper Elite V2 puts you in control of Karl Fairburne, a US sniper. He has been sent to Berlin in the midst of post-WWII conflicts between Nazi and Russian forces with the mission of trying to eliminate, capture, or rescue those involved in the famous V2 rocket program.
The story is spread across 11 missions, but how you approach each mission is where the game's open-ended nature comes into play. Like so many other action games, you can customize your arsenal to best suit your play style. Fairburne is equipped with a primary sniper rifle, a machine gun, and a sidearm, as well as a number of different supplementary items. These include explosive mines and trip mines, which can be set up in locations to serve various functions, such as defense mechanisms or traps.
Even though Fairburne is a sniper, you won't be restricted to playing as stealthy soldiers.
The different weapons and items let you approach an area in various ways. With your silenced sidearm, you can slowly creep behind enemies and eliminate them. If you're the kind of person who enjoys running and gunning, then your machine gun will let you play with no regard for your safety.
Still, the primary focus is to snipe enemies and use the terrain to your advantage. Enemies will often be far away, so you can eliminate entire squads before they can react. When sniping, the game features both a heart-rate monitor and breathing bar, which factors into shooting. Holding your breath will allow for a more precise shot, but if you're being fired upon and under a lot of pressure, Fairburne's high heart rate makes shooting more difficult.
Kills with your rifle also showcase the game's kill-cam mechanic. When you pull off incredible kill shots, the game momentarily stops the action and goes into a bullet animation that slowly highlights the bullet's trek from the muzzle of your rifle to its target. Based on where the bullet goes, you are treated to an X-ray animation that points out exactly what internal damage has been done, such as shattering skulls and exploding livers. During our presentation, these animations were shown a lot, but we were promised that the frequency of these moments--which can take you out of the experience--will only happen at key moments.
Sniper Elite V2 is scheduled to hit the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 this May.
Dynamic AI highlights some of what baseball fans can expect later this year with MLB 2K12.
It's hard to argue against the fact that pitching is the most important aspect of baseball. Regardless of how everyone else is playing on the field, if your pitching is lacking, then the likelihood that your team will win is diminished. 2K Sports understands this, and for this year's MLB 2K12, on top of the many things 2K is addressing, pitching is seeing the biggest changes.
For 2K12, there are a number of different things being tweaked to improve the pitching aspect of the game. For starters, there is greater feedback thanks to the inclusion of more detailed pitch counters and trackers. Past games have included markers to showcase the history of throws for the current batter, but now you can get a look at all pitches thrown. On top of that, there are pitch trackers that highlight all pitches thrown to the specific-handed batters. This way, you can get a better idea of what is working depending on the kinds of batters you are facing.
Because of the game's new dynamic AI system, it's important to know which pitches work. Now, batters will make adjustments to combat the pitches being thrown at them. If you rely too heavily on one kind of pitch, even if you've been throwing strikes, batters will notice this and change their approach accordingly. With the dynamic pitching, after every throw, markers will show you which pitches are working, will suggest which ones to use, and will highlight the ones to avoid.
In addition, as you progress through a game with the same pitcher, the response in terms of how effective he is in both accuracy and speed will be shown to give you a better idea of what to expect. As you move deeper into the game and increase your pitch count, even with a fantastic pitcher, the effectiveness of all your pitches will suffer, and deciding the best course of action will come heavily into play to ensure your team leaves with a win.
Pitching is not the only aspect of the game that 2K Sports is addressing for 2K12. 2K heard the complaints about past games and is looking to adjust everything that fans of the series have noted as being weak. Fielding is being worked on to ensure better throwing by outfield players. Also, player animations, specifically for the catcher, have been heavily worked on to ensure the players move as they would in real life. Lastly, the graphics engine and lighting have been tweaked to give a more realistic viewing experience.
If you haven't been keeping track, baseball season is only a few months away, and MLB 2K12 is on track to deliver a solid experience. If you're not having a fun time pitching, then it's almost impossible to enjoy virtual baseball. 2K Sports knows this and is hoping that what it's doing with 2K12 will please fans of the sport and bring back those it has lost over the years. Expect to see and hear more about the game as we approach its March 6 launch on all major consoles.
Cooperative play in EA's new first-person shooter may win over even its biggest naysayers.
En route to a recent Syndicate event at Electronic Arts' HQ, I wasn't sure what to think. I hadn't seen the new Syndicate before, and as a longtime fan of the original Amiga strategy game, I think it's fair to say that I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of revisiting its dystopian world in a first-person shooter. But after spending an hour with the game across three co-op missions, my thoughts were not of the original Syndicate and of how badly I'd still like to see a true continuation of the series, but rather of how much fun I'd just had and how much I'm now looking forward to getting my hands on Starbreeze's game next month.
Ryan and Justin get hands-on with Syndicate's cooperative mode.
I'll be keeping an eye out for reviews of Syndicate next month, not because I expect it to evoke memories of the game I enjoyed during my formative years. Rather, because it has the potential to be an action-packed and entertaining shooter that--based on my exclusively cooperative experience with it--I'll enjoy with friends. Perhaps more of the folks being vocal about their disappointment following the game's announcement would be looking forward to it if they could get past the title--particularly given the developer's track record. Maybe if Syndicate had a different title, forums and comments sections wouldn't be filled with remarks like:
"Making syndicate a shooter, this is awful."
"As a shooter?!? Ugh. Dead on arrival, EA."
"i really was a fan of the syndicate series loved to play all parts so im definately [sic] wont get this one!!!"
Failing that, perhaps folks will be won over by the consumer demo that's coming at the end of January. The demo will incorporate the first of the three missions that I played at EA, which, incidentally, is the only one that I'm cleared to talk about until sometime next month. I don't want to get hung up on the specifics of the nondisclosure agreement, though, because while the scenery and the objectives in the three levels were different, the levels were near identical mechanically.
Enjoying this shouldn't in any way tarnish your memories of the original Syndicate.
As I sat down to play Syndicate, the first choice presented was selecting a defensive, offensive, or support agent. I ended up opting for the latter because, after taking a quick look at their respective default loadouts, I decided I'd rather have a sniper rifle as my primary weapon than a shotgun or machine gun. Zooming in on enemies and quickly taking headshots with some subtle snap-on targeting assistance, I was pleased with my choice. Hanging toward the back of our foursome, I not only picked off enemies from a safe distance, but was also ideally placed to heal my fellow agents by simply holding down the "breach" button when prompted to do so. (My secondary weapon, incidentally, was a pistol with an impressive rate of fire that made it fun to use when enemies got too close for comfort.)
Anytime an agent in front of me had a health bar that was less than full, there I was, topping them up with the L2 button on my PlayStation 3 controller. Different classes of agents have different repertoires of breach abilities (damage-over-time attacks and squad heals, for example) at their disposal, but all have the ability to heal other agents and, when necessary, to disable the otherwise impenetrable armors on some enemies by holding down the same button. Agents cannot, however, heal themselves, so it's a bad idea to stray too far from your co-op buddies.
My experience playing through that co-op level--set in Western Europe--wasn't wholly unlike playing through a small dungeon in a massively multiplayer online game. We didn't have clearly defined tank, healer, or DPS roles, but we were relying on each other for heals (and for resurrection-equivalent breaches when the heals failed) at all times, and we were mowing down dozens of vanilla enemies between more meaningful and challenging encounters with minibosses. There was no loot, but we were free to swap out our weapons for those that enemies had left behind at any time, and when those minibosses went down, we could extract the chips from their heads and use them to upgrade our own chips between missions. At that time we could also queue up various weapons and weapon accessories for research, all of which had point costs associated with them; score enough points with your persistent agent during a mission, and there might be a new gun or hair trigger waiting for you at the end.
After finishing the Western Europe mission, I couldn't wait to get into the other two, and after making it through those, I wished I could have taken a copy of Syndicate away with me. Did I leave EA feeling like my memories of Syndicate are being betrayed somehow? Or that as a matter of principle there's no way I'll ever play the finished game? No way. I left EA that day eager to experiment with more of the game's weapons, trying to figure out which of my friends will play through the co-op missions with me next month, and wondering if it was me or one of the other agents who had somehow managed to cut an enemy clean in half at one point.
Project director Sheldon Carter discusses more about the story, the engine, and even the PC specs of the comic-laced gore-fest.
With the development of the upcoming shooter based on the comic book franchise coming to an end, we figured it would be best to get a bit more insight into the game's development. We recently had a chat with The Darkness II's project director Sheldon Carter, whose previous acclaims include being a producer for Dark Sector, as well as contributing to the development of BioShock 2 and Jade Empire.
GameSpot Asia: It seems natural to bring Paul Jenkins on board because he wrote about The Darkness in comics. Elaborate on the process of how both the writer and a group of game designers work together for The Darkness II.
Sheldon Carter: Paul had an understanding of the way the games and comic lore work right away. After all, he also did writing work for the first Darkness game. We had a very collaborative experience on The Darkness II, in which both sides bounced tons of ideas off each other and we tried to be as integrated as possible.
A good example of this is in one of the scenes from the demo we've used to introduce the game to everyone. There is a moment where Jackie is being crucified by our main antagonist Victor. In the starting point of the script, Jackie is trapped and Victor is trying to take the darkness away from him. We worked together and started figuring out the methods and rituals that the Brotherhood--the ancient organization that Victor controls--would use and eventually came up with the scene you will see in the game.
GSA: Was there at one point any consideration by the team to get the original creators, specifically David Wohl, Garth Ennis, and Marc Silvestri, on board The Darkness II for writing duties? What made the team decide on using Paul Jenkins' talent in the end?
SC: The most important thing for us in making The Darkness II was to strictly stick to the story of the first game. The comic books were our inspiration, but the first game was our model.
As such, we kept the same writer from the first game. Paul wrote a bunch of the Darkness II comics, he wrote the first game, and he maintained that storyline for the second.
GSA: Tell us what is unique about the game engine you're using, in terms of technology.
SC: The game runs on our own engine called the Evolution engine. The great thing about using our own tech is that we were able to tailor it to best express the graphic noir art style that so beautifully stands out in the game.
"Graphic noir" is the name of our game's vibrant and red-lighting-heavy art style that's directly inspired from the comic books. Every texture in the game is hand painted to give you the feeling that you're playing in a graphic novel. We wanted to use as broad of a palette as we could for this game because when you look at the comics, you really notice the vibrancy of that palette.
GSA: In terms of the level design for single-player mode, are we looking at linear corridors or more wide-open spaces for combat?
SC: One of the key aspects of the gameplay is "quad-wielding." This means that the player can use a grabbing demon's arm, a slashing demon's arm, and two weapons all at the same time. On top of that, you have this huge assortment of powers and talents, which made level design such a crucial component.
The player needs to be able to have objects to grab and throw, places for cover, and the right space to use the powers. The mixture we've tried to come up with is to keep the game's pacing just right.
GSA: Will there be a subway system linking each stage ala The Darkness I, or will the game have a level-after-level structure like most shooters?
SC: The subway system made sense in the first game because Jackie was a "hitman" working for the mob. In The Darkness II, Jackie is the don of the family, so he takes his limo instead. It also means that Jackie has a mansion, a place where he can go and talk to his crew, learn background information, and practice his skills.
GSA: Given the first game's huge focus on single-player, why did your team decide to add in multiplayer for The Darkness II with obvious nods to Left 4 Dead?
SC: Everything we've done in The Darkness II has been focused around one key pillar: the service of the story. When we thought about multiplayer for this game, it was very clear to us that we had to advance and complement the single-player story for the player.
We worked with our writer to come up with a campaign that you can experience from the perspective of four unique characters--complete with their own talent trees and very different personalities--that ties directly into the single-player campaign.
GSA: Speaking of which, what kind of locales are we expecting in The Darkness II apart from the seedy underbelly of the city?
SC: Ha! The seedy underbelly is definitely a critical piece of where the game takes place, but we travel to a lot of different locations. Examples include the very top of the New York scene, Jackie's own penthouse mansion, the Brotherhood's makeshift base in a carnival, as well as in otherworldly places that I don't want to spoil.
GSA: Give us a brief description of the level design for Vendetta mode.
SC: Vendetta is a fast-paced narrative co-op experience that corresponds to the single-player story. There are four characters that you can choose from and they all have [their] own unique darkness weapon, powers, and talent tree. It was designed as a team-focused, mission-based experience, and it explores the roles each character plays in Jackie Estacado's fight to defeat the Brotherhood.
GSA: Will The Darkness II's online play use dedicated servers, or are you using another means to handle networking?
SC: Peer to peer. We're a co-op game and our engine handles that very well.
GSA: What are the minimum and recommended specs for the PC version of the game?
SC: Here they are: Minimum
- OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 @ 2GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
- Memory: 1.5GB RAM
- Hard disk space: 10GB
- Video card: 256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600
Recommended
- OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
- Processor: 2.4 GHz quad-core processor
- Memory: 2GB RAM
- Hard disk space: 10GB
- Video card: 512+MB Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX
- Sound: DirectX compatible
GSA: Why was the game delayed twice from its original release date: one on July 10 and one on October 4? Was it due to multiplayer additions, or was there something else?
SC: To make a better game! We wanted to make sure that we only put out the best possible game we can. We hold ourselves to high standards, so we polished this game as much as possible and we needed more time in order to do so. Our publisher, 2K, was good enough to allow that.
What happens when you mix a little bit of Mortal Kombat, BioShock, and Red Dead Redemption?
The rush of holiday releases hasn't done any favors for The Darkness II and its impending release on February 7, so we thought it would be a good idea to get everyone caught up on all the pertinent details and interesting tidbits about the game before it hits store shelves. The Darkness II captures much of what made the previous game successful and introduces some new features--both cosmetic and mechanic--that are a direct attempt to fix issues with the first game.
It's in Development at Digital Extremes, Not Starbreeze
The original Darkness was developed by the same team that produced the lovely Chronicles of Riddick. The sequel is in development at Digital Extremes, which you might know from the entertaining Dark Sector, as well as its collaborative efforts on BioShock 2, various Unreal Tournament games, and even the original Unreal.
It's Cel-Shaded
This might seem like an obvious departure from the first game--which shared the darker, almost sterile tone of Starbreeze's previous work--but the effect doesn't really make an impact until you see it for yourself. It's an obvious nod to The Darkness's comic book roots and certainly creates an interesting dichotomy between the onscreen violence and the vibrant world that it inhabits.
It Has Red Dead Redemption-like Auto-Aim
The shooting in the original Darkness wasn't exactly the highlight, but it worked well enough in tandem with Jackie's darkness powers. The Darkness II makes the shooting a little more user-friendly by making the "snap to" far more generous when you aim in the general vicinity of a foe. This gives the shooting a Red Dead Redemption feel where firefights feel more like a series of quick draws as opposed to prolonged sharp-shooting affairs.
It Has BioShock-like Skill Upgrades
The Darkness II has a skill tree system where you can spend points to unlock new skills that are then separated into different sections that focus on Jackie's abilities with firearms and the darkness itself. For example, in the firearm section, you can find a skill that lets you infuse darkness power into bullets, making them stronger. In the darkness executions section, you see skills that will give various bonuses (like health) for executing enemies. A personal favorite is the skill that turns every object you can throw into a bomb.
It Has Fatalities
Eat your heart out, Mortal Kombat! No, really. The darkness will eat a heart out, rip through a belly, or tear off the head of an incapacitated foe. Of course, these fatalities don't serve just as violent window decorations; Jackie gets a boost in health for going that extra mile.
It Has a Brothel Level That Will Likely Cause Some Controversy
About halfway through the game, Jackie makes his way to a brothel because of information he receives on the group that wants him dead. Needless to say, there are some…questionable choices of taste in terms of what's showcased in this particular level. That's not to say that these things are completely out of the thematic realm of what The Darkness is, but it's quite surprising nonetheless.
It Has a Cooperative Multiplayer Mode
The Darkness II doesn't have competitive multiplayer, but it will let you play cooperatively with friends taking on the role of different characters that have unique darkness powers. You can watch more about it below!
Will luck strike twice for Mojang with the alpha build of the upcoming 2D action game Cobalt?
After the success of Minecraft, anything connected with the people at Mojang is going to get a lot of attention. And that is the case for Cobalt--a collaboration between Oxeye Game Studio and Mojang. In its simplest form, Cobalt is a throwback to classic 2D action games of the '80s and '90s when gaming was all about action and crazy weapons. You take control of a robot that destroys its opposition with an arsenal of items.
Check out some Deathmatch and Capture The Plug action.
Much like with Minecraft's early release model, you can purchase Cobalt in its current alpha state and help shape the game through feedback and interaction with its developers. Back at Minecon in November, Oxeye and Mojang were adamant that their game be released to the public before the end of 2011. While they met that goal with a few weeks to spare, the initial release content offers only a fraction of what is planned for the final game. Currently, Cobalt includes only one of the three key modes: multiplayer. The rest of the features (including a level editor and campaign) have no official release date, but even with only one-third of the game accessible, it's still more than enough to get an idea of what Cobalt offers before everything else is ready for full public consumption.
The alpha build has three multiplayer modes available. Capture the Plug and Deathmatch are your standard multiplayer modes, and they're easy to grasp and enjoy. The last available mode, Survival, is theoretically a solo affair, but one of its two maps lets you partner up with another player to see how long you can last and how much loot you can collect before you both die.
Currently, Capture the Plug offers three arenas, and Deathmatch has six. While the number of maps is nice, they are fairly small and can comfortably fit four players. You can have more than the suggested number, but as more characters are added, keeping track of what's going on becomes increasingly difficult.
Although Cobalt features a multiplayer mode, it's restricted to local play. If you don't have spare USB controllers handy, then playing with others is fairly limited because only one person can use the keyboard. Both Capture the Plug and Deathmatch allow for bot play, but currently, the bot AI is pretty buggy.
Of course, as its alpha state suggests, Cobalt is still very much a game under development. Oxeye is looking at ways to improve the final product, and the issues we've highlighted have been unquestionably called out by others playing the game. The Minecraft method of making a game available before it is ready worked wonders for Minecraft's development and popularity. And tracking Cobalt's progress should be interesting for similar reasons, even if it manages only a fraction of the same kind of community support.
Blizzard lead world designer Leonard Boyarsky discusses evolving mouse clicking, keeping role-playing game archetypes alive, and new ways of delivering story.
While a lucky few Diablo III fans have been able to get a hands-on feel for the long-anticipated sequel with the recent beta, those who missed out on keys have only the game's nebulous "when it's done" 2012 shipping date to look forward to. We recently chatted with Diablo III's lead world designer, Leonard Boyarsky, about different methods of storytelling, why hindsight doesn't always matter, and the Diablo mouse.
GameSpot: You joined Blizzard in 2006, but you're no stranger to the role-playing genre, having worked at Interplay and helping form Troika. What does experience with other development teams and a fresh set of eyes bring when you begin working on a game like Diablo III?
Leonard Boyarsky: I can't speak to how other people have approached the franchise in the past, because I didn't work with any of the previous designers, but when I approached it, I came in looking at it from a deeper story standpoint than I think it had in the past. Shockingly, I found out there was a deeper story there; it just really wasn't presented in the best possible format. There was huge dialogue, paragraphs and paragraphs of dialogue when you talk to an NPC, and it didn't grab me the way it could have in previous iterations. I came in, and [vice president of creative development] Chris Metzen and I had a lot of conversations about bringing the emotional resonance to the series. It was all there in the background, and we just wanted to bring it to the forefront.
GS: You've worn a lot of different hats in your development career: project lead, art director, designer, and writer. How has your own role flexibility helped with working across teams with different tasks?
LB: I think I speak pretty good artist [laughs] because I've had that experience in the past. I think it helps to have that experience when you talk about things you want to see in the world and your ideas. It also helps to know what is and what isn't possible.
GS: What are the non-negotiable elements that make up a Diablo game?
LB: For us, it's not so much on the story side; like I said, I feel like that's where Diablo had the most room for improvement, on story delivery. The action RPG side was where I think all the checkboxes were. It had to have a great item game, it had to have unrelenting action, it had to have mouse-breaking capabilities, it had to have all those things that people remember so fondly from the first two games, and I think I'm pretty confident we've accomplished that and brought it even further.
GS: Are those expectations challenges or opportunities? Were there any off-limit elements of the franchise when you started working on Diablo III, or was all previous work up for potential change?
LB: Everything was open. There were obviously things set in stone in terms of story and what the world was, but we wanted to open up the world into a lot of different areas and bring the story into some new areas. I think it was more of a mood and feel thing, where we ran into areas that we didn't want to touch, and it was more us searching around and trying to find that Diablo sweet spot for our story delivery and our tone. We knew what we wanted; we had a really good idea of what it was, but for us to put it down in a game and have other people feel that was the biggest challenge, I think. It took a lot of iteration. We were changing dynamics, the player now spoke a lot more, we delivered dialogue in a different manner; just all that stuff.
GS: Is that a constant challenge for you as developers--understanding the intentions of what you're trying to achieve, but not knowing how the audience will receive the content?
LB: I think early on it was a bigger issue, and through the iteration process we've really dialled it in. I think that's one of the things that we're fortunate of here at Blizzard; we have time to iterate and have great designers on other teams. Any game you're working on, just by the nature of the beast, you get too close to it to actually be able to see what you need to see. To have fresh eyes to look at it and give you feedback is invaluable. I think the challenge with Diablo that I've found, that's been a little bit more than some of the other games I've worked on, is the economy of delivery systems. We don't have a huge amount of dialogue with which to convey ideas, we don't have a lot of the RPG conventions that I fell back on in the past, like dialogue trees, to really convey a lot of the stuff, so for us to convey the mood and vibe in a really succinct manner was a really big challenge, but I think after a lot of iteration and a lot of great feedback from other designers I think we've pretty much hit it.
GS: With such a long time between sequels, even though you didn't work on the originals, what were some of the lessons the team learned from the 20/20 hindsight of the Diablo II development process?
LB: We did have some people from the previous game, but Jay Wilson, our game director, was new--he started about a month before I did, and we totally rebooted the game then. We obviously looked a lot at what had been done before, but we'd have to talk to him about lessons in terms of skill system and item game. I didn't have a lot of direct contact with previous designers, so I didn't get their wisdom passed on to me in terms of story delivery or quests or anything like that.
GS: Was there a risk that because you didn't have direct contact with those who worked on the series previously, you may have fallen into the same design holes they did?
LB: I think we approached it differently, and with some different goals in mind. It's a different day and age, and, I think, even in action games people expect more story now. I don't think we could have gotten away with something that didn't have a deeper delivery system of story.
GS: EA's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is pinning its hopes of success on a dynamic class concept, rather than choosing and sticking with one archetype. They believe the latter is an outdated notion in this day and age. Why have you opted for set classes in Diablo III, and was a dynamic system ever on the table?
LB: From my side of the table, it's all about archetypes. When I set out to play a certain type of hero and click on that button to pick that hero, I want to know what I'm getting in for. To me, that resonates with people when they pick and build that character. If you veer off from what the base of that character is, it's kind of like taking it away from that visceral...when I play a barbarian, I want him to feel like a barbarian. I'm not familiar with the game you just mentioned, but it sounds to me like they're going down a totally different road. We made our choice. We wanted to go with archetypes. We felt that added a lot to the world and the game.
GS: Blizzard is incredibly close to its community. What are some of the things fans have been calling for inclusion of in Diablo III, and have you implemented any of them? Are there ideas that simply wouldn't work from a balance or gameplay perspective?
LB: From a story standpoint, it was very interesting early on. I read our forums a lot to see what people expected, because we didn't want to give people exactly what they expected, because that would be kind of boring. But you don't want to go off in a totally different direction than what people are expecting to see, because that would feel like you cheated them. They've invested this time into the series. Diablo II's expansion, Lord of Destruction, ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger, so we really felt there were certain things we had to deliver, and just touching base, looking at the lore forums, and seeing what people were talking about and what their theories were as to what was going on in the world, were very helpful in knowing what they expected from our game. One of our villains in the game is the Maiden of Lust, and her concept was up on the Web, and two years ago at BlizzCon someone at the costume contest was dressed as her. She was originally a totally different character and she had been cut from the game, but we saw that costume and it was such an awesome costume that we said we had to put it back in the game. So that was an instance where we were really inspired by a fan and had to change the content of the game.
GS: With people dissecting the lore, and you as a team cautious of making it too predictable, have you found yourself in the position where you've changed content because players have already guessed how it will play out?
LB: No, not really. We figured out what we wanted our story to be and pretty much stuck to it. If some people guess what we're doing, that just means they'll be pleasantly surprised. Sadly, it's a minority of people who really care deeply about the lore. There are a lot of people out there who do care deeply about the lore, but in terms of our overall fan base, it's not the top thing on people's list. I think that the kind of people who really care about the lore and delve into that will feel proud if they feel like they figured it out. We haven't seen a lot of people make correct guesses, by the way! [Laughs]
GS: What were the key world-design goals heading into this project? What was it you were you aiming to create?
LB: We just really wanted to expand the world of Diablo, the world of Sanctuary. We wanted it to feel like a lived-in world, we wanted to show different cultures, we wanted to get behind the scenes about how these cultures work together and talk about the world as a whole. We just really wanted it to have more depth.
GS: Diablo has always been known as the clicking game. How are you breaking that mold, and have you considered bundling a mouse with a copy of the game?
LB: [Laughs] I'm sure we have! Don't we have a Diablo mouse?
PR person: We do!
LB: I'll bring that up with the licensing guys. I think that's perfect. As far as the clicking goes, and how we've changed that up, the guys change the skill system every day, sometimes five times a day. But when I played Diablo and Diablo II, I was a one-skill spammer--I didn't bind my keys. But in Diablo III it's much easier to have access to a multitude of skills at once and use a variety of things. It's still got that mouse-clicking and spamming feel to it, but it feels like there's a little bit more strategy, and you plan your strategy out a little more.
Originally touted as the first game to use CryEngine 3, Nexuiz disappeared but is back and is hoping to get the attention of fans of arena first-person shooters.
The Penny Arcade Expo can be a great place for independent developers to showcase their upcoming releases to a wider audience. The games get to be in the hands of those they are intended for, but at the same time, doing that can also be a risk. Back in 2010, developer Illfonic used PAX to show off its upcoming arena first-person shooter, Nexuiz. The company touted the fact that it was going to be the first game released to use CryEngine 3, months before Crysis 2 would be available. Unfortunately, Nexuiz wasn't up to snuff, most people avoided Illfonic's booth, and the game went dark shortly thereafter. The team has been silent since then, but because THQ is now assisting with the publishing, the developers hope they can win the hearts of FPS fans with this multiplayer-only downloadable release.
Nexuiz is an online team-based shooter in which eight players on two teams square off against each other for supremacy. The game will have two modes: Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch. The modes will be available on nine maps--three focused on CTF and six designed for TDM. While these modes don't help to separate the game from the plethora of FPS titles available, the inclusion of dynamic mutators is what the developers hope is enough to entice people to their game.
What dynamic mutators do is give you the opportunity to modify aspects of the game in-match. While some shooters give you the ability to make changes to a match before it begins, the mutators available in Nexuiz are scattered around the arena and can be triggered as soon as they…ve been collected. There will be 100 mutators available. They range from expected modifiers like increased shields, firing power, and speed, to out-of-the-ordinary ones like color blindness, which turns your screen completely black and white and forces you to use your reticle to determine who is friend or foe. Other rare modifiers include one that forces you to play part of the match with inverted controls.
Dynamic mutators work in a number of ways. Some can be triggered to benefit your team, while others are triggered to affect the opposition--and some give everyone an advantage. Also, mutators aren't controlled solely by one person; they are scattered throughout the arenas, and anyone can find them and initiate them. While only one mutator can be active at a given time, it's possible to have others ready in a queue. Lining up mutators can make an entire match completely dictated by them.
The developers tout that there are over 100 mutators which will allow for more than 1.7 million match possibilities. The mutators will be broken up into tiers to ensure that certain ones don't appear as often as others. On top of that, when you're playing online, the points you earn in-match from your kills can be spent to increase the odds that a given mutator appears. Upgrading a specific modulation to its max doesn't necessarily ensure it will be available in a future match, but if other players have also upgraded the same mutator, the greater the liklhood that particular one will appear in-game.
Of course, mutators won't be mandatory. Because Illfonic is looking to cater this game to hardcore players, these can be turned off, and normal FPS rules will apply. As for everything else in Nexuiz, the game is pretty standard. Console players familiar with the genre will be able to pick up a controller and get into the action with no need for practice. On the PC side of things, when the game is released, the developers are promising better match finding and hope to implement modding tools that will let you tweak many aspects of the game. There is no date when PC players will see this inclusion, but it is expected shortly after launch. Lastly, while the console version of the game will have some aim assisting, PC players won't have that aid available.
Deciding to hold off on releasing the game back in late 2010 seems to have been a smart move by Illfonic. But at the same time, there are so many first-person shooters on the market that Nexuiz is still going to be in a position to have to try hard to earn an audience. Mutators seems like they could do the trick, but the smaller-scope matches, where only a maximum of eight players can play, might not be enough in comparison to other games that allow for greater numbers of players. But to combat that, when Nexuiz is released on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in early 2012, it will cost only $10. Hopefully the less-than-regular price point and the planned post-launch support and PC bonuses will be enough to get those who grew up playing arena first-person shooters a reason to play Nexuiz.
Ubisoft's latest tactical shooter looks like a promising one, but a few parts of the game are worth keeping an eye on.
With Rainbow 6: Patriots, Ubisoft Montreal wants to draw upon the political resentment bubbling within the dark, disenfranchised corners of the American public. This is a game where the biggest terrorist threat facing America comes from its own citizens--those bitter and well-armed enough to violently thrust their ideals onto anyone they deem necessary. That messy, uncertain political climate is something Ubisoft wants to make use of in not only the story, but even the shooter gameplay itself. By giving players what Ubisoft calls "constant ethical dilemmas," the game often asks players to trade a little part of their humanity for some greater goal whether they're playing as the counterterrorist Rainbow team, the terrorists themselves, or everyday citizens caught in the crossfire. It's an intriguing setup that looks very promising based on what we've seen, but a game like this leaves itself open to intense scrutiny by its very nature. Here are a few elements of the game that especially caught our eye:
Where It Could Go Right: Humanizing the Enemy
How many modern-day shooters have you played where the enemy represents little more than some vaguely Russian or Middle Eastern opposing force that exists merely as targets in a turkey shoot? With Patriots, Ubisoft wants to humanize the enemies, show you their motivations, and even give you the chance to play as them in situations where they feel doubt over their actions. If done right, seeing the human side to the enemies you're facing could be quite the breath of fresh air in the genre.
The leader of Rainbow team is a fellow named James Wolfe who, according to Ubisoft, is a realist willing to take "ethical shortcuts" whenever necessary. In one situation, he orders you to throw an innocent civilian strapped with a bomb off of a bridge because there's no time to diffuse it. While we're hoping his personality develops into a morally complex antihero, it's too early to rule out the possibility that he may just be an unlikeable jerk. We're hoping it's not the latter because there's no shortage of first-person shooters where players just can't relate to some unpleasant tough guy. In fact, that's pretty much most first-person shooters.
Where It Could Go Right: Morally Ambiguous Gameplay
Prior to tossing that bomb-strapped innocent off into the river, there's a scene in which you're playing as a sniper perched high above a bridge and trying to protect the guy from being ushered into Times Square by a group of terrorists. Suddenly, things turn hairy when police, unaware that he's an innocent, begin opening fire on the civilian. You're presented with a difficult task: having to turn your fire onto friendlies to save a greater number of lives. (There are a lot of people still trapped on that bridge.) Whether you kill those police or simply incapacitate them is up to you and your skill with a sniper rifle, but no matter what, it's an odd feeling to not have an option other than the one where you open fire on those boys in blue. This is one of those areas where Patriots could really stand out from the crowd and throw moments of moral ambiguity into the shooter action. As long as it's done intelligently and Ubisoft makes sure to earn it, this part of the game could be a really interesting selling point.
Where It Could Go Wrong: Technology That Takes You Out of the Moment
One of the tools Rainbow team makes use of is something Ubisoft describes as a compact, technologically advanced version of an airport X-ray scanner that allows players to look through walls, buildings, and, in some cases, determine which citizens have guns on them. While this sort of tool certainly works for Batman (yes, it's basically detective vision), we can't help but feel that such fancy, theoretical technology feels a little misplaced in an otherwise realistic and human story of clashing ideals and the struggle to maintain one's humanity in grim situations. Sure, it wouldn't be a Tom Clancy-style game without some near-future military technology at your disposal, and it could wind up being an extremely useful game mechanic. We just hope it doesn't become Robocop vision.
If you've played Battlefield 3, Homefront, or countless other shooters, you know how infuriating it can be when the game forces you into being the last of your squad to walk through a door even when you were the first one to get there. In Patriots, not only do you have the power to breach the doorway when you want, but you can also quite literally kick a door off of its hinges and take down an enemy with it. Now that's what we call counterterrorism.
We take our first look at this medieval real-time strategy game and discover a few tweaks to its warfare formula.
King Arthur can't catch a break. In King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame, he bested the forces of evil and united Southern Britannia. In this real-time strategy sequel, he gets stabbed in the gut with a magic knife. OK, maybe it doesn't happen exactly like that, but he does suffer a supernatural wound at the hands of the Witch Queen. To make matters worse, she summons a horde of demons to ravage the lands and throw the realms into chaos. Just great. King Arthur II is divided between two extensive campaigns, and it's now your charge to restore order to both the northern and southern halves of the empire. Of course, your definition of "order" could be different from someone else's definition.
Our demonstration began with diplomacy--murder diplomacy. In the example we saw, our hero helped the son of a noble family murder his own father so that he could seize control. However, we also made sure that his next of kin saw the act and could blow the whistle if the son got out of line. This little episode worked to our advantage later in the game when we were trying to become governor. To do so, we needed to speak before the senate and obtain the majority vote from the noble families. The murderous son already owned us one, so we got an easy vote. But we didn't get the majority. Naturally, it was time for war.
King Arthur II is divided into two sections: the map screen and the battle screen. On the map screen, we could craft items, manage our armies, visit towns, and partake in all other manner of adventuring flair. The battle screen is where we got down and dirty. The first battle we saw was a stronghold assault that looked like a scene straight out of Total War: Shogun II. Had we actually proceeded, it would have been a very challenging fight because the defensive enemies were not only hiding behind three walls, but they were also atop high elevation, which means they received bonuses when firing or charging downhill.
We also got a peek at some of King Arthur II's flying units. These nasty, demonic critters could only be harmed with spells and arrows while in the air. Sometimes they would touch down and take a few melee swipes at our troops, which granted our men the chance to work their blades. The developers described the battle system as a rock-paper-scissors relationship among all the units. Later in the demonstration, we got our hands on the game and tested our tactical prowess against some giants. Because our strategy began and ended with "RUSH THE GIANTS," we didn't fair well initially. However, with smart positioning of our archers and liberal use of the slow spell on the giants, we managed to bring them down before they could trample all of our troops.
We also learned that the magic system from the first King Arthur has been reworked so that it is less overwhelming. Now, each side has a magical shield that is broken down into four levels. The offensive spell will need to be above the defensive shield level to have any effect. If it's not, well, poof, and it's gone. Magical shields will degenerate over time, but they can be restored though various means. One of those is to capture certain strategic points on the map. In addition to extra shielding, these points can confer new spells or other bonuses. Stronger spells also have long casting times and can be interrupted if, for instance, your caster takes an arrow to the face.
Had we kept playing, the surviving units would have likely leveled up. When a hero unit levels up, it's a big deal. Whether you're using a warlord, champion, or sage, the units will each have an upgradeable skill tree broken into two branches. The first is unique to that unit and reflects how totally awesome it is with a personalized set of spells and abilities. The second branch is specific to the unit type--as mentioned earlier--and is common to all units of that type. Non-hero units also gain levels, which lets you increase their stats.
King Arthur II is still a single-player-only adventure and will be released on PCs in January of next year. When asked, the developers also noted that they would like to have a special bonus included for players with an original King Arthur save, but nothing has been finalized.
Rather than relying solely on set-pieces, Spec Ops: The Line uses strong subject matter to engage the player.
Chances are you've read or heard about Joseph Conrad's famous novella Heart of Darkness. The story is quite well known and has been used as the basis of a number of different mediums, including the incredible film Apocalypse Now. When we initially heard about and saw footage surrounding Yager and 2K's upcoming game, Spec Ops: The Line, the connection was made. We spent some time with a few chapters of the upcoming game, and while references to the novella and film are visible, Spec Ops: The Line looks to change the way people approach war-themed tactical shooters.
A few members of the Yager team talk about Spec Ops: The Line
You'll play as Captain Martin Walker, the leader of a Delta reconnaissance squad that has landed in Dubai and is out to retrieve the thought-to-be-missing Colonel John Konrad. Konrad had been in Dubai six months prior, leading his 33rd team as part of a humanitarian relief squad. Back then, the city was ravaged by constant sandstorms, and the evacuation of its citizens was required. But due to various constraints, not all of the citizens were able to be removed safely, and Konrad took it upon himself to ensure that those left behind were not left to die stranded. He and his squad lost contact with others, and it was feared they may have perished because of the conditions. After six months of silence, a radio transmission was picked up, and a retrieval mission was sent to find the source of the message.
Walker and two of his squad members land in the outskirts of the city and begin their trek to find Konrad and/or any other surviving members of the 33rd. As they make their way through the city, they encounter many challenges, both human and natural, in the hopes of retrieving Konrad or at least figuring out what has happened to the area over the last six months.
The Line plays like most third-person shooters. You use cover and a plethora of different weapons as you make your way through the various areas. Walker will be able to issue commands to his two partners, but these commands are basic functions like focusing fire on a specific target or throwing grenades and flashbangs. While the commands are pretty minimal, both accompanying soldiers are smart enough in the battlefield that you rarely have to tell them what to do.
Where The Line hopes to differentiate itself from other wartime shooters is in the narrative. Because it borrows elements of Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, the developers are looking to capture the audience not with the various firefights you'll encounter, but by the way this journey and the surroundings begin to alter your psyche.
The weather will alter the way you approach certain areas. Since the city has been all but destroyed by the sandstorms, moving around areas will be difficult, and many times, the Delta squad will need to find alternative routes to use. At the same time, the weather will play into how to deal with foes in an area. When a sandstorm does occur, you'll have to try to battle not only foes that come your way, but the reduced visibility. In these scenarios, making quick decisions and finding safe areas will be vital to your survival.
The narrative will also change the way your characters progress through the game. While The Line's story is going to be a linear experience, there will be times when your decisions will transform the way the characters react to one another. In one area in particular, there will be a situation in which Walker will have to make a choice in regard to keeping one of two people alive. In most people's eyes, there may be only one or two possible outcomes, but in fact, there are four choices, and your decision here will cause characters to react differently. This is just one area where choice comes into play, and it is expected that there will be other situations where choosing one action over another will alter the progression of the story. On top of that, because these soldiers are in a dire situation, the problems they encounter may cause their relationships and their feelings about the situation to change. These psychological changes will surely cause a tense finale.
The time we spent with Spec Ops: The Line allowed us to play through five chapters of the game in the first half. We got a rundown on the events that happened during those parts of the game we didn't play, and they did feature a lot of areas of interest and situations where the characters faced dire scenarios. Spec Ops: The Line looks to use its narrative to differentiate itself from other shooters, and from the time we spent with it, that seems to be the case. Spec Ops: The Line will arrive on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in early 2012.
In our first hands-on session with The Secret World, we journey through the Templar's starting area, solve some mysteries, and get devoured by an Ur-Draug.
The online role-playing game The Secret World is shaping up to be a real rogues' gallery of supernatural horrors. From zombies to vampires to nameless, indescribable monstrosities, this upcoming massively multiplayer online game has all your childhood nightmares in order. After being kind enough to respond to our extensive Q&A, developer Funcom (Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures) invited a handful of journalists to visit their office in Montreal, Canada. There, we caught up with creative director Ragnar Tornquist and got our first hands-on session with the game.
Funcom's Ragnar Tornquist sheds some light on a few of The Secret World's secrets.
"We see our story as a giant jigsaw puzzle," Tornquist said during his introductory presentation. The pieces to that puzzle are scattered all across the globe, and it will be our charge to seek out the truth and possibly save humanity along the way. Story is one of the main focuses of The Secret World, along with character progression and the game's modern-day setting. Upon concluding, Tornquist explained that our play time would take us through the Templar's starting area to the city of Kingsmouth Town--which is under siege by the undead.
Before heading to the suburbs of the dead, our first order of business was combat. Fighting in The Secret World was all about generating and spending marks. Since we were using dual pistols (a ranged weapon), we put marks on enemies by hitting them with our standard ranged attack: "the Business." Once the enemy had a few of these marks, up to five maximum, we could use our "Wanted" attack to cash them in. This cleverly named attack let us strike multiple targets by bending a bullet's midair trajectory (complete with gun-flicking animation). It also did bonus damage depending on how many marks the target had.
"Above the Law" rounded out our starting trio of abilities and let us tag a small area on the ground. Enemies in this area took extra damage, as well as generated marks on themselves. Depending on which weapon you wield, marks will be generated differently. With our pistols in order, we were introduced to the game's quick-travel system: the Garden of Eden. Located down an isolated stairwell in an old train station, the portal to Eden deposited us onto what looked to be a massive tree branch. White light shone all around us, complemented by the humming of hornets and the occasional stomping of a tin man who strolled past in the distance. Following the arm of this massive, winding tree, we eventually found the exit portal.
We had arrived in Kingsmouth. One early mission that caught our interest came from the fortune-teller Madame Roget. She was being plagued by terrible nightmares involving ravens and wanted us to investigate the source. Our first task was to simply follow the ravens. The first raven led us to another raven, who led us to another, who led us to a hulking, knife-wielding psychotic called the Ravenant. Thanks a lot, ravens. A dramatic battle ensued, ending with the Ravenant's retreat. We then collected the feather it left behind, before following the ravens to the next location.
After repeating this process a few times, we came upon an empty fountain. A nearby envelope instructed us to arrange the collected feathers in a specific pattern to "bind the malevolent spirit." However, what it should have said was "make the malevolent spirit really angry." The final battle followed between man and bird-monster, but we won't spoil how it ended.
At this point in any other MMO, our character would have likely leveled up. But in The Secret World you don't gain levels. Instead, there are two main character progression systems. The first involves your character's abilities. Your character earns ability points by completing missions and other secondary objectives. These points can be spent anywhere in the massive skill wheel, with different families of skills being tied to different weapons. The second system involves the chakras. As you play, you will collect different chakras to fit into the seven chakra slots. These improve your character's stats, such as increasing attack rating or critical damage.
Later during our session, we played through the same dungeon seen at the EA Studio Showcase. It played out the same as when we last saw it. However, in that previous demo our heroes were shot down in the end by a flying creature. This time, we got the chance to fight that creature. And it killed us, a lot. This Ur-Draug encounter started out normal enough: our strongest character took point while the rest of the party stood around and pelted it with all manner of pain. Then its eyes began to glow, and we got a radio message about reality breaking down.
Now the battlefield had an otherworldly glow about it. Fighting the Ur-Draug at this point would be suicide, so we all hid behind a stone mound. This creature couldn't be bothered to find us itself and would spawn lesser horrors to skulk around and look for us instead. And if one of them found us, the Ur-Draug would dish out some serious hurt. After a time, reality was restored and the fight proper continued.
Before signing off, we took a moment to look through the game's pause menu, where we found options for adjusting the user interface. It was broken into four sections: auto-targeting, name displays, toggling HUD elements, and toggling cinematics. While the overall feel of The Secret World wasn't altogether different from other traditional MMO games, save for the lack of an auto-attack, the game's sense of humor really stood out. It loved to poke fun at supernatural cliches and was packed with horror and pop culture references. You can discover The Secret World for yourself in April next year on the PC.
We take to the streets to race cross-country style in developer Black Box's latest entry in the racing franchise
We've all agreed on a time and place, and with just seconds to go until that agreed moment, I'm making the final adjustments to my vehicle. I say "adjustments," but what I really mean is choosing the colour of my selected vehicle: a McLaren F1. Flame red it is, then.
Following more in the footsteps of Criterion's Hot Pursuit as opposed to the more simulator-leaning Shift, Need for Speed: The Run has a much more arcade feel, focusing on slamming the pedal to the metal as opposed to fine-tuning every mechanical part. In fact, colour selection and body kits are about all the customisation options you can get. The multiplayer is pure speed and nothing else--no cops, no mobsters, and no quick-time events to get in the way. Here we just have long-distance runs, a handful of racers, and a thirst for victory.
Due to the game's cross-country nature, The Run forgoes traditional track loops in favour of highways and mountain tracks that lead into each other. So instead of navigating a circuit three times, in each session you'll race through three or four different areas, with the winner being crowned as they hurtle through the final flare signals.
These races are frantic and aggressive; while the single-player sees rival drivers stick to racing lines, online opponents are violent and use the roads to their advantage. Oncoming traffic becomes a key weapon in your battle to finish first; slamming your opponent to the side at the right moment will cause a head-on collision that could mean the difference between a podium position and failure. Your car and your wits are the only resources, so quick on-the-fly thinking is required to spot shortcuts to gain the upper hand and know if it's safe to bash rival racers out of the way.
The Run certainly captures the speed of each vehicle; when racing the McLaren, heavy use of the brakes is required to veer from lane to lane without obliterating your car through collision with bollards, rock faces, and other traffic. Less-aggressive cars are easier to handle, and the sprint-like nature of many of the sessions are easily tackled with the help of a NOS-boost unlocked early in your career. Upgrades such as NOS help you gain an edge for a few seconds, but during our hands-on time we didn't unlock anything as game-changing as Hot Pursuit's EMP blasts or road spikes. The Run feels far more race-focused compared to Hot Pursuit, despite its cinematic single-player mode.
The modes available are what you'd expect, offering up races for American muscle cars, European exotic sprinters, underground racing, and sessions specifically for NFS-grade vehicles--cars that have been tuned beyond that of their normal capabilities. Each session starts with a map vote and also a spinning wheel that randomly selects a modifier; this could be anything from bonus XP for podium finishers to new car unlocks.
From our hands-on time, The Run looks to be a solid addition to the Need for Speed series' multiplayer options. Yet while everything about The Run's multiplayer worked fine, it felt a little dull compared to the cops-and-racers action of Hot Pursuit or the breakneck simulation of Shift 2. Perhaps more time spent with the game and with a higher driver level and more unlocks will add a bit more excitement to The Run. We'll find out when the game is released on November 18, 2011.
We analyze the pros and cons of each subclass of the already-out massively multiplayer online game from Eyedentity and Shanda Games.
With the Saint Haven update out and the level cap increased to 32, gamers new to Dragon Nest may be perplexed as to which subclass they should be after hitting level 15. Here's a breakdown of all the subclasses available for the game's main four classes.
Swordmaster: One of the subclasses from the warrior's side, the swordmaster's forte is performing quick strikes onto enemies. He has a good mix of melee and ranged attacks; his crescent cleave hits enemies from a good midrange, while the frenzied charge is, well, just a glorified charging stab that knocks a group of foes into the air. We were fans of his two unique stances: the parrying stance and hacking stance.
Though the former is suitable when you're backing away from a mob while waiting for the cooldown for your other skills, the latter is good for juggling clustered enemies for a small amount of time. Basically, you stand in a sword-drawing position for a few seconds; clicking the attack button makes you do rapid slashes.
If you favor using the sword more than the other weapons while applying hit-and-run tactics and pressure on foes, the swordmaster subclass is the way to go.
Mercenary: Another subclass of the warrior, the mercenary specializes in taking hits while performing crowd-control attacks so that mobs and enemies take notice of him first. His high tolerance for damage is due to his many buffs and upgrades like iron skin (super armor buff and immune to stun), empowering howl (party gets super armor and defense bonuses), and battle howl (attack ratings and critical chances are increased).
The mercenary can dish it out without much reprisal because a majority of his melee attacks have a good chance of interrupting other enemy's attacks. Examples include the midrange bombs away that sends enemies flying, the circle swing, and the demolition fist. If surrounded and anticipating the worst, he can use the roll attack to get out of a jam while also dealing damage to whoever is foolish enough to be on his landing path. His whirlwind attack travels a good distance, but it's better as an offensive crowd control tool and should be used to press forward toward the enemy.
Pick this class if you love accepting requests for being the group's tank for both player-versus-player and player-versus-environment sessions and if you favor using hammers and axes. After all, the majority of this class's skills require the aforementioned weapons.
Paladin: Most fantasy world paladins have a mix of heavy hitting and healing; Dragon Nest's paladin takes one for the team, thanks to its assortment of spells. A subclass of the cleric class, the paladin allows you to buff up your party with conviction aura and elemental aura, as well as strengthen itself with the counterattack stance called stance of faith and the damage-reducing iron will.
Even so, the paladin can still dish it out, though not as effectively as the other classes. Lightning spells like smite zap make the paladin leap up and strike down anyone within his path, while sacred hammering charges up your flail and makes two hammers come out during your normal attacks. The latter skill was good at raking up the combos for a better dungeon completion grade during PVE when complemented with the paladin's lightning spells.
While the developers officially state that the paladin's mana pool is limited, we didn't find it much of a detriment as long as the right buffs were applied and you left the main attacks to the heavy hitters of the four-person party. You may find the mana pool a problem if you're going solo; our choice of tactic was to go offensive with the lightning and attack spells on the regular mobs while saving up the buffs against the dungeon bosses.
Priest: While the paladin has buffs, the priest can summon giant cross things called relics onto the battlefield that can both help the party and hinder opponents nearby. Bind relic put nearby mobs at a standstill and makes them ripe for a party beatdown, while lightning relic seems self-explanatory (relic comes down, shoots out bolts that fry enemies). Do keep in mind that when any sort of relic pops down, it produces its own agro and will make enemies cluster to it.
The priest seems more effective at healing because the healing relic and cure relic can help turn the tide of battle in both PVE and PVP scenarios. For that bit of offensive touch in case your priest is cornered, the area-of-effect holy burst can get you out of a crowd while chain lightning is a great surprise attack for approaching enemies in a small group.
We don't recommend putting your skill points on grand cross; the attack comes out slowly and ineffectively when compared to the rest of his arsenal and relic attacks. Much like some spellcasters in the game, the priest is a good choice if you play well with others and don't mind staying at the sidelines to keep your party members in tip-top shape.
Acrobat: Among the two subclasses in the archer class, the acrobat seems well suited for one-on-one PVP scenarios, thanks to her powerful close-ranged skills. While obviously not on par with the warrior's subclasses, the acrobat can hold her own with the crowd-controlling furious winds and the multi-hitting straight-attack cyclone kick that also doubles as an escape tool.
Speaking of which, she can do an additional dodge with the chain tumble skill while also pulling off a somersault kick in the middle of an attack that doubles as another escape tool. Furthermore, her speed can be increased with the spirit boost and spiritual focus buffs, with the former affecting surrounding party members.
All in all, the majority of the acrobat's attacks are tailored toward players who love to initiate hit-and-run attacks, be it by themselves or in a party.
Bow Master: If you don't want to get your hands dirty up close like the warriors and his subclasses, the bow master is your go-to woman. One of our favorite moves among her long-ranged repertoire was the siege stance; once activated, the bow master stood her ground in a dominating position and launched superpowered arrows that knocked down and dealt critical hits onto enemies for a good 13 seconds.
Rain of Arrows was also our most used skill; we had to gauge our distance before launching the multi-hitting move so that the arrows hit their designated targets. We usually pulled off the move at the start before capping it off with the aforementioned siege stance for the finishing touch. While you're waiting for the cooldown periods of those moves, her other skills like rapid shot, stunning shot, and the semi crowd-control swift shot can dish out the hurt. The latter isn't effective if you are surrounded by a huge mob though, so always keep your distance.
The bow master can also increase her range using the sylph's aid buff; we stress that you use this every single time before battle. Like we said before, only go for this subclass if you're keen on being the sniper of the party because she's a sitting duck when surrounded by tanks and melee combatants.
Elemental Lord: This subclass for the sorceress loves playing with fire, as well as ice. As such, she's a really good midrange damage dealer with great crowd-control spells. Fire wall, inferno, and frozen spikes are good up-close spells, while the long-ranged phoenix strike launches three phoenix-shaped projectiles that explode upon impact. When surrounded, her hot rod skill not only gets her out but also leaves a trail of fire in her wake.
Furthermore, she can use ignite or shatter to damage and slow down enemies with the burn and frozen status, respectively. As such, use both these skills after casting the appropriate elemental spells.
When you want nothing but fire and ice damage with the ability to hinder foes with status effects from those affinities, you will want to use this subclass if you're going the sorceress path. She also has buffs against fire and ice if a mirror match scenario presents itself in a PVP session.
Force User: Being a force user subclass requires you to play well with your group. She isn't really effective on her own because her spells do average damage compared to the elementalists. However, the debuffs from all of her skills are a godsend against mobs and PVE situations. Time stop is an area-of-effect move that stops enemies dead in their tracks, making them prone to your party's abuse. Gravity trap is also a great area-of-effect debuff that decreases enemy movement and speed.
Nonetheless, her offensive attacks warrant mentioning. Triple orb summons three black hole-ish spheres consecutively and damages anything within its area, while spectrum dishes a good amount of damage to surrounding enemies. Her nine tails laser is good against enemies from afar, while her linear ray is a good midrange attack where she shoots out a quick laser beam. Our favorite tactic was using black hole to bring a cluster of enemies onto one spot, followed up with a summon comet spell to bring down a hard-hitting meteorite onto their noggins.
The force user may not be upfront with DPS skills, but she can hinder a PVP group if her time-warping spells are cast at the right time. We recommend that future force users work together with archers and sharpshooters. Cast time stop and gravity trap within an area while the long-ranged warriors bring in the hurt from a distance.
As if those subclasses weren't enough, each of these subclasses has its own upgrades (a subclass within a subclass, mind you) that will cater to a user's play style of that particular subclass. For instance, a priest user can either choose the inquisitor subclass or the saint subclass; the former will have his lightning spells powered up with better combo-enabling properties while the latter will have better upgrades for his relic powers.
Of course, this feature will only be available in the game's next big update, which will be out for the public next year.
We put the fun back into the nine-to-five as we suit up and shoot up an office building in our exclusive look at Max Payne 3.
When we finally got our first look at Rockstar's reboot of the Max Payne franchise, the man at the centre of the action was a rudderless, burnt-out husk of a man. But, hey, what's new? While Max had left the chilly New York winter seeking out the more tropical shores of Brazil to do contract security with friend Raul Passos in Sao Paulo, old habits die hard, as Max once again tried to protect the women around him. We recently got an exclusive look at some more of the single-player story in action.
The fact that our hero was still sporting healthy-looking locks of dark hair meant that the events of our latest demo predate those of the bus depot shoot-outs in our last preview. Fabiana, the wife of our boss, Rodrigo Branco, has been kidnapped, and we've been summoned to assist in the hunt. While the city may be different, the situation was the same. As Passos arrived at Max's apartment, he attempted to rouse us from the comfortable-looking slumber that comes from a night spent head down on a wooden table. Discarded Chinese food containers of indeterminable date lay strewn, while empty bottles of booze lined most available surfaces. Passos took playful verbal jabs at Max as he stumbled around looking for pants, but there was a stern, and concerned, edge to his voice. Clothes really do maketh the man, and nowhere is this a more evident reflection of the wearer. Passos' clean, pressed linen suit was in stark contrast with the grimy, wrinkled appearance of Max's outfit.
Upon arrival at Branco's office, the conversation flitted between unsubtitled Portuguese and English, as a high-ranking member of the local law enforcement, Marcelo Branco (the hard-partying yin to brother Rodrigo's wealthy, but respectable, yang) and members of staff discussed Fabiana's disappearance. The steady stream of language barely paused for air, and Max's limited language abilities further exemplified his fish-out-of-water status, being located in a foreign place and roped into situations that he didn't completely understand.
Ever the trooper, once the group dispersed Max found himself back in his comfort zone: less chat and more splat. Armed Cracha Preto gunmen stormed the building, and while Branco had taken the initiative and installed an elaborate, and expensive, alarm system, it was immediately clear that there was a problem with the plan when it failed to activate on command. A big-haired IT support staffer rushed into the room, unsuccessfully attempting to override the system with some furious keyboard massage, but to no avail. Branco hunkered down in his office while we played babysitter to the IT guy, who shared more than a passing resemblance to Moss from British comedy series The IT Crowd. Bullets flew, and while our sidekick didn't know one end of a gun from the other, we stalked the hallways with confidence, pumping round after round into enemy soldiers as they crossed our path.
Bright sunshine streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the office building. Desks appeared to be worked at, stocked with piles of carefully filed paper reports, knickknacks, and architectural model mock-ups of buildings in progress. All became casualties of battle as we returned fire, bullets whizzing past, and the glass of desk dividers shattered as we inched our way towards the server room to reboot the security system. Cover quickly became shredded, necessitating our need to push forward, while a combination of low-slung furniture, diving jumps, and bullet time provided its fair share of dramatic Hong Kong-cinema-style action moments.
While we half expected a survival-style mission where waves of attackers would descend on our position as we protected our frail, intellectual buddy, it wasn't the case. In true help-desk style, all it took was a flick of the power switch and a few keyboard strikes to get the system back online, and only moments later, large metal doors slowly began to slide down from the ceiling to seal us in.
Branco may be wealthy and connected, but he's certainly no Tony Montana. Commanded by Max back to the safety of his office, he scuttled off, pleading with us to "try not to completely destroy the place." Our move to the lobby revealed a slain receptionist with her phone headset still attached. The image didn't have much time to sink in, though, as another of the game's set-piece moments was triggered: a jeep smashed through the glass doorway of the building. Time slowed, and reloading and bullet conservation were no longer our concerns as we took aim at the driver first. Gun-toting passengers were second on the list, closely followed by the stream of armed men rushing in through the now-destroyed entrance. Reinforcements arrived when a white van pulled up and the doors flung open. Anyone we hadn't already filled with lead was picked off one by one as we ducked behind pillars and returned fire. The foyer's opulent facade was stripped bare in the skirmish, revealing a functional, but unattractive, steel rebar below. With the bodies finally beginning to pile up, we were presented with one last challenge: a significantly more heavily armed soldier wielding a machine gun. Our rounds appeared to bounce off his helmet and thick body plating at first, but after working him for a bit with a mixture of blind fire from the remaining cover and some well-placed bullet-time shots, a final, fatal blow forced the camera to zoom forward, tracking the slug as it burrowed deep into his flesh in slow motion, kicking his body back violently in the process.
The scene skipped ahead slightly to avoid storyline spoilers, and whatever went on during that period trashed the building even further. Bullet holes had been replaced with smoking craters, fire burned intensely out of control, and the multistorey structural integrity had clearly been weakened by the mystery assault. Max was covered in a thick coating of ash, his once-grey suit now a new, darker shade, but, on the plus side, conveniently hiding many of its wrinkles. In your face, ironing! He was badly injured, grasping at his chest in pain as he struggled to pull himself up a flight of stairs.
Blaze and ember effects looked particularly impressive, as pockets of flame fell on the floor and clung to the walls. A brief gunfight with some dedicated goons who stayed behind ensued, and after disposing of them like we did their counterparts, we pushed over a large metal filing cabinet to gain access to a precarious-looking high-rise path. We sighed with relief as it held together long enough for us to safely cross, and we struggled onwards, only to fall through a collapsing cement walkway, tumbling down and encountering a wounded Cracha Preto grunt with horrendous injuries. With a leg missing, and fire slowly consuming his ravaged body, the downed bad guy attempted to crawl away as our demo came to a close.
The two demos that we've seen have given us a look at some of the indoor and outdoor environments that we can expect, and given the focus being put on destructibility, we're glad that there's plenty to shoot at. Max is nimble, but steady, with gun in hand, and while maybe we didn't exactly follow Rodrigo Branco's orders about keeping the place in one piece, we were still alive to fight another day. Look for more on Max Payne 3 in the coming months, including info on the franchise's multiplayer debut ahead of its March 2012 release on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Want to see what December's new maps looks like? We've got gameplay videos for you!
Even though most Battlefield 3 players are still learning the ins and outs of the game's multiplayer maps, EA is already prepping a four-map downloadable update scheduled for release next month. The map pack is called Back to Karkand and features a number of classic Battlefield maps, as well as a new mode called Conquest Assault. This mode is sort of a combination of Conquest and Rush, putting a team of defenders against a team of attackers as they all fight over three different flag-capture points. The twist is that the attackers start with fewer respawns, while the defenders have no spawn base; they can only squad spawn or spawn on successfully defended flags. So what's the deal with those "new" maps? Well, here's a breakdown of the two we got a chance to play:
Strike at Karkand
If this map sounds familiar, there's a reason: It's a remake of the fan-favorite Battlefield 2 map of the same name. This one takes place in a Middle Eastern city that's visually similar to the Battlefield 3 campaign levels set in Tehran. The density of buildings makes it a great map to pick off opponents from the rooftops, but there are more than a few tanks that can literally take the ground out from under you at a moment's notice. Here are a few gameplay videos:
Gulf of Oman is another remake of a classic Battlefield 2 map and is a more wide-open map than Strike at Karkand. There are wide stretches of road, freeway, and hills that make you an easy target for snipers if you don't have a vehicle handy. Be sure to keep an eye out for snipers perched atop the towering construction cranes that dominate the skyline. It'll be interesting to see if DICE keeps these sniper perches accessible via ladders because it removed a similar sniper spot on the Caspian Border map after the public beta. Check out the gameplay videos right here:
Back to Karkand is scheduled for release in December. If you preordered the limited edition, you've already got access to the map pack. Everyone else will have to fork over $15.
With a nod to Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City brings squad-based shooting to this survival horror series.
There are two sides to every story. With Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, we're finally getting a peek behind the scenes of the villainous Umbrella Corporation: the twisted pharmaceutical corporation that has caused more outbreaks than cured. Along with introducing a new cast of six Umbrella spec-ops commandos--who are all crazy in their own unique way--developer Capcom has recruited Slant Six (SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3) to infuse some extra vigor into the game's combat.
At the recent Capcom Gamers Day 2011 event in San Francisco, we got the chance to learn a little more about the game, as well as don the devil horns ourselves for a hands-on session. We also checked in with producer Mike Jones about character customization and a few other odds and ends, which you can find in the interview below.
Maxwell McGee checks in with Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City producer Mike Jones about the game.
A brief presentation preceded our time with the game and included a brand-new trailer featuring everyone's favorite undead stalker: Nemesis. The trailer also established Operation Raccoon City's setting as September of 1998, between the events of Resident Evil 2 and those of Resident Evil 3. We then watched a demonstration of the game's prologue mission. It followed our spec-ops team as they rendezvoused with Hunk, another Umbrella operative, and plotted how to recover the G-Virus sample from Dr. Birkin before he could sell it to the US military.
All this, of course, was just pretense to blow through an urban compound killing security personnel ("They can't be trusted"). This let us see the game's cover system in action. Instead of holding down a button to stick to cover, your character in Operation Raccoon City will automatically lock into place simply by walking up to the desired cover. From there he can pop up and fire normally--making sure to fire in short bursts to maintain accuracy--or blind-fire wildly.
When it was time to get our hands on the game, we selected Christine "Four Eyes" Yamata, a field scientist who filled the support role in the group. All characters can equip one skill (either active or passive), one primary weapon, and one secondary weapon. Program Infected, an active skill, lets Four Eyes control an enemy and select whom it attacks. Biometric Vision, a passive skill, lets her clearly see infected enemies and their weak points. We chose Attraction Pheromone, an active skill that made nearby infected enemies swarm and attack a single target.
From a selection of shotguns, submachine guns, and rifles, we chose the automatic shotgun as our primary weapon. The secondary weapons were all different pistol flavors, so we picked the one with the most range. All weapons have their own statistics, such as range and damage, and while you don't upgrade these weapons, there are numerous versions in each category. We also got to choose our three teammates from the five remaining candidates. Bertha (the medic), Beltway (the heavily armored brute), and Vector (the guy who can turn invisible) made the cut.
Our mission took place right after the prologue seen earlier. Hunk was missing, Dr. Birkin had pulled Mr. Hyde on us, and the T-Virus outbreak was in full swing. It fell on us to clean up this biological mess and ensure that Umbrella's involvement remained hidden. Right away we noticed this didn't handle like any Resident Evil game we had played before. If you lamented Resident Evil 5's arguably laborious controls, you may find Operation Raccoon City's quick pace a step in the right direction. We could fire while moving, as well as quickly swap between our two weapons. Additional weapons, ammo, and healing items were also in abundance to keep us moving through the demo.
And unlike in Resident Evil 5, hand-to-hand combat in Operation Raccoon City wasn't just a forerunner to getting hit. By combining the melee button and direction stick, we could strike in front, behind, or to the sides of our character and fend off zombies from multiple directions. After hitting a target a few times, we could finish it off with a stylish execution kill or use it as cover. Against highly mobile targets, Operation Raccoon City's auto-aiming feature automatically snapped our character's laser sight to the nearest target with the press of a button. However, this technique worked only with pistols (which we automatically switched to), and our character moved at a walking pace.
At the end of our mission we were awarded experience points based on our performance and were given an overall score. We could also earn extra experience by completing side missions, such as destroying computer servers with incriminating evidence; collecting evidence items and uploading them at laptops; or locating the stuffed Raccoon City raccoon hidden in each mission. Experience points are account-wide and can be spent on any character whose skills you want to increase, or they can be used to purchase new weapons for your entire team.
You can tap into your dark side when Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is released on March 20, 2012, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC version will follow later in the year.
We got to play through Doublesix's latest undead shooter at MCM Expo and pick the brains of the developer itself.
The developer of All Zombies Must Die, Doublesix Games, has said its game is perfect for a Wednesday night in--when you invite your friends round and want to have some multiplayer fun. Playing the game at the developer's MCM Expo stand, it's clear why.
With four-player local multiplayer (there is no online multiplayer), this game is designed to be played locally with friends. Described as the spiritual successor to Burn Zombie Burn, it's an isometric shooter role-playing game that screams nostalgia. Playing as one of the four main characters--Jack, Rachel, Luxo, or Brian--you embark on the hub world, completing a variety of different quests.
Each character has a tale to tell, with Jack, the classic teenage gamer geek, waking up in the zombie apocalypse. Rachel, Jack's ex-girlfriend, dumps him because of his gaming addiction but now finds herself needing the benefit of his years of gaming experience to survive the zombie onslaught. Luxo and Brian find themselves intertwined--Brian needing to collect zombie brains for his scientific research and Luxo the alien required to collect items that will let him learn the lingo.
All Zombies Must Die oozes personality and is filled with references to classic zombie movies and games. The game is littered with environmental elements that have an effect on enemies. Power cables electrically charge zombies, while nuclear pollution turns them into super-zombies if they aren't killed quickly.
Each gun feels unique: shotguns blast enemies to a pulp, while the SMG provides an effective spray of bullets. One thing the developer is quick to emphasise is the deliberate inclusion of friendly fire, meaning you have to be careful with your ammo. If you're not, Doublesix says filling a teammate with lead initiates a deathmatch between you.
Each character has a main weapon and power in the game. Jack, the character we got a chance to play as, roams around with a shotgun and unlocks the ability to set zombies on fire. All characters can also equip a secondary weapon, ranging from Uzis to katanas. The ability to customise guns to increase the probability of certain weapon effects adds another level to the RPG elements of the game. Being able to increase the likelihood of your bullets giving enemies an electric shock or releasing a shock wave means you can choose how to play. Weapon status effects can be applied to any weapon, meaning you don't have to become too attached to a particular gun.
The game provides what looks to be a strong narrative throughout the campaign, and you're always fed tasks to complete. By killing zombies and completing these quests, you gain experience to level up your characters, increasing either health, attack, defense, or speed, so you can effectively build your own character classes. We had a blast playing All Zombies Must Die at MCM Expo and look forward to its full release on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 later this year.
Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't the next step in online role-playing games. Instead, it's a highly entertaining refinement of what has come before it.
Justin Verlander hasn't yet, but you could pitch a perfect game in Major League Baseball 2K12 and be eligible to win $1,000,000 in the Perfect Game Challenge.
